1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to medical implant devices, such as orthopedic implants, cardiac implants, dental implants, general surgical implants, neurological implants, gastrointestinal implants, urological implants, gynecological implants, or some other implantable medical device, and, in particular, to a system and method for storing information on or in the proximity of a medical implant device that identifies the particular elements/parts of the medical implant device.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,333,013 and 7,932,825 describe a system wherein a medical implant device, such as, without limitation, an orthopedic (e.g., an artificial knee or hip), a cardiac implant (e.g., a pacemaker), or some other implantable medical device has a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag mounted thereto or in the proximity thereof so as to be implanted in the patient's body. The RFID tag stores information relating to the implant and/or the patient, such as, without limitation, the implant type/model/serial number, the implant manufacturer, the procedure date, the hospital and/or the implanting surgeon. That information may later be obtained from outside of the patient's body when needed by reading the RFID tag using a properly equipped RFID reader device. For example, that information can be read by the surgeon or another healthcare professional during, a post operative or later visit in order to obtain information needed by that individual during the visit in order to properly examine and treat the patient. As another example, that information can also be read and transmitted to a secure patient database for use in medical outcomes research performed by, for example, a healthcare organization or implant manufacturer.
In one particular implementation, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,333,013 and 7,932,825, the RFID tag mounted to the implant is a passive RFID tag that includes an antenna, and may be read using a conventional RFID reader that is structured to read the implanted passive RFID tag over an air interface, in another particular implementation, an alternative RFID reader may be used, wherein the RFID reader is structured and configured to read the implanted RFID tag: by making, a direct (i.e., non-air interface) electrical connection to the RFID tag through the patient's living tissue using a probe provided as part of the RFID reader device (i.e., using transcutaneous contact, transcutaneous near field communication (TNFC), and other communication technologies). A TNFC implementation is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,487,844, 7,228,183 and 7,825,807.
In certain medical implant applications, such as, without limitation, orthopedic trauma applications, many different elements or parts from various vendor kits may be placed in the patient to form the medical implant device. For example, medical implant device may comprise a plate or rod from a first vendor, a number of screws from a second vendor and a number of screws from a third vendor. The ability to later identify the various different elements or parts in the medical implant device can be important, such as when follow up care for the patient to, for example, repair or replace a part of the medical implant device, is necessary. A paper trail of the different elements or parts of the medical implant device is difficult to maintain for the patient due to a variety of reasons including, for example, the urgency of the procedure when performed, the patient living in geographic area other than where the procedure was performed, and/or an unclear insurance profile. As a result, at a later time when one or more of the various elements of the medical implant device need to be adjusted, repaired or replaced, to overcome this frequent lack of proper documentation, the surgeon must have available all of the possible kits which could have been used for the original procedure to ensure that he or she has what is then needed.